Runaway Returns
by Osbian Night
Summary: Buffy's back from San Francisco but can she deal with her friends reactions and a new Slayer? Buffy, Charmed and Doctor Who crossover. Sequel to Runaway.
1. Chapter 1

I stood outside the door, staring blankly at it. If I knocked then I was basically saying goodbye to the life I had made in San Francisco and was at risk of, yet again, being thrown out by the first mother I had ever known. I wasn't sure I was ready for that leap yet but I had a duty which meant I had to be back in this town.

After Chris had orbed out mid-kiss I had looked at the place he had occupied in confusion for about a second before getting annoyed. The only reason he had orbed out was because he knew that if I lost my courage I would beg him to take me back, so he removed the temptation by getting out of there. After a few moments of annoyance I slowly made my way to my impending doom.

'_Knock on the door_,' Chris' soothing voice sounded through my mind, wrapping me in a blanket of calmness and soothing my nerves slightly.

'_It would be easier if you were here, coward' _I thought back to him but I held a light tone. Chris didn't say anything but I did as he said. There was a rustling of movement from inside the house and I could feel my fight or flight response screaming in my mind. It demanded flight. If it wasn't for Chris' soothing presence in my mind I probably would have listened to it, especially as the door swung open...

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It was weird being back in my room. I was still used to being at Sophanisba's place or the room Chris and I shared in P3. Putting away the last of my stuff I couldn't help but feel desperate to get out again. Mom had made a gigantic dinner then an equally huge snack which was filled with small talk. I really needed to get my head around being back and being in this house was stifling. I grabbed my sweeter and went to mom's room.

Joyce was in there hammering a nail on the wall but when I called for her she thrust the hammer through the wall in surprise. Mom spun around and I couldn't help but cringing at the hole. I apologised but mom knocked it off.

"No, no! Don't worry about it," she said. "I-I guess I just got used to all the quiet while you were gone. But it's no problem." She turned back to the wall to hang a wooden mask over the hole. The thing gave me the Wiggins but Mom seemed to like it. It was Nigerian or something and part of a collection from the gallery that she worked out.

"It's angry at the room, Mom," I told her when she said the creepy thing would cheer up the room. "It wants the room to suffer."

"You have no appreciation of primitive art," she criticised, then seeing the sweeter in my hand added- "You going out?" I could hear her lack of enthusiasm at the idea but ignored it and told her I was going to see my friends. "Will you be slaying?" She was trying I guess so I tried making a joke of it. It made me feel really guilty when she tried to stall me from going.

"Mom... If you don't want me to go, just say so," I told her. I couldn't stand her skirting around the issue.

"No, no," she denied but when she looked down at the keys now in her hands I could see she was lying. "I-I just want to put this whole thing behind us, get back to normal. You go. Have a good time." I could tell Chris could feel the guilt welling up in me since I could feel him enter my mind. We had practised the whole power sharing thing and learnt how to block each other out or not listen into each other's thoughts.

'_You okay_?' Chris thought to me. I could feel his worry for me which made me feel more remorse.

'_Yeah, just feel a bit guilty. Mom's pretending that she's okay with me going to find my friends but I can tell she's lying,_' I thought back to him with a sigh. I knew this was going to be hard I just didn't realize how hard. There was a slight pause before he answered.

'_Aunt Phoebe says to give it time and that you just need to get used to each other again,' _Chris relayed for me. It was good advice but then what did you expect from the best advice columnist in San Francisco. I just hopped it would be that simple.

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It was surprisingly easy to find the Scooby gang; all I had to do was walk towards the Bronze. I saw a man who was dressed all in black going into an empty ally and I couldn't help but investigate. I accidently stepped on a can which made the man swing around and try to stab me with a stake. I was lucky that I instinctually threw up my hands or I would have ended up regenerating again. I grabbed the stake out of his hands making him step back. I looked up and saw someone I didn't expect. Xander.

"Didn't anyone ever warn you about playing with pointy sticks?" I mocked shaking the stick in front of him. "It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye." While my tone was light I couldn't help but feel worried. If I had been a normal person or hadn't had reacted as quickly as I did Xander would have killed me. What was wrong with him? I get that he was patrolling but he should check that what he is killing is a demon or not. I could feel Chris' worry for me so I sent him a message that I would explain later.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!" he exclaimed like that excused him nearly killing someone. I tried to put that to the back of my head. It was probably just a mistake... A deadly mistake. A vampire appeared and then so did the rest of the gang with walkie talkies and everything. Even with them working as a group they ended up on the floor while I saved them from the leech.

They ended up taking me to see Giles which was another awkward moment for me. Though Giles seemed more understanding then everyone else. He didn't force her to answer lots of questions about where I was or what I was doing. He even told everyone to give me time to adjust before the drilled me. I did however get Willow to meet up with me the next day.

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"Absolutely not," Principle Snyder said in glee. Mom and I had gone to see the man so I could get back in school but he seemed to be getting great pleasure from telling me I couldn't. His excuse for keeping me out was that while I wasn't wanted for murder anymore I was a delinquent. Apparently I had caused too much trouble to be allowed to go to school there thanks to all the damage I had done to property and to people while I was trying to stop people from getting killed, but he didn't know that and I wasn't sure he would have cared if he did.

Once we left mom dropped me off for my meet up with Willow, telling me that we would figure something out about schooling. She even suggested private school which didn't really appeal to me. The problem was that Willow never showed. I waited two hours for her outside the coffee shop but there was no sign of her. On my way back home if it wasn't for Chris talking to me in our heads I think I would have found somewhere to hide to I could cry my eyes out. Willow clearly didn't want to be around me and I had no idea how to make everything right again.

When I did get to my house a woman, who I had never met before, was coming out. She introduced herself as Pat and said that she was friends with my Mom. From what I gathered they met through a book club... Since when was she part of a book club.

Inside, mom was in the kitchen. She told me Willow had called which gave me a brief bit of hope and made me ask if she had left a message.

"No," Joyce replied, not realizing that she crushed what little hope I had. "But I had a thought. What if I invited Willow and Mr. Giles and everybody over for dinner tomorrow night? Don't you think that would be nice?" To be honest no I didn't think that was a good idea but I didn't say that. "Since I sort of already did, I was hoping for a yes." Part of me wanted to scream at her for that but our relationship was so strained at the moment that I didn't think I should. Instead I just smiled and nodded, telling her it was fine. "Uh, do me a favour? Run down and get the company plates."

"Mom," I told her. "Willow and everybody aren't company-plate people. They're normal-plate people."

"We never have guests for dinner. Indulge your mother?" I just sighed and did as I was told. My mood was not improved by the fact I found a dead cat on top of the plates. Mom and I ended up burying the poor thing was such a great bonding exercise. Hint on the sarcasm.

The next morning mom and I were in the kitchen. She was talking about how she talked to the superintendent of schools and everything. She started talking about private schools again but I protested I told that homeschooling would be better. Which was true. Homeschooling would mean I could actually fit school in around slaying.

"Buffy, you made some bad choices," Joyce scolded. "You just might have to live with some consequences." I stayed quiet knowing she was right.

'_No she's not_,' Chris shouted out in my mind. '_You made the choices with what they gave you. You did what you had to. You said the reason Snyder won't let you back in was because of the damage that was caused when you were slaying. You had to protect those people._' I really wanted to go up and kiss him for that. What he said gave me more confidence then I could ever thank him for.

'_Thank you.' _I sent back to him then returned my attention back to my mom.

"Nothing's settled yet," Joyce reasoned. "I just wish you didn't have to be so secretive about things. I mean, it's not your fault you have a special circumstance. They should make allowances for you." While she was talking she was sorting out some trash that was lying about.

"Mom, I'm a Slayer," I reminded her with a sigh. "It's not like I need to ride a little bus to school."

"Couldn't you just tell a few people, like Principal Snyder and maybe the police?" She suggested. My urge to scream at her returned.

"Yeah and maybe they'll send me to the loony bin like you did the first time I told you!" I shouted just as she opened the door to put the trash away. She was saved from making a comeback by a cat running into the house. The dead cat that we buried the other day.

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"Welcome to the Hellmouth petting zoo," I greeted Giles as I opened the door for him. The first thing I had done after seeing the cat was call the Watcher then mom and I tried to capture it. We had managed to get the thing trapped in mom's bedroom where the cat was hiding. Once they had caught the thing in a cage that Giles had bring I went to the door intending to go to the library with him to do research but Giles stopped me, saying maybe I should stay with my mom. I felt a brief bit of hurt at that. He didn't want to be around me either.

"Please, no. I, its fine. She can go with you," mom assured.

"A-actually, she can't. Um..." He stuttered out then looked at me. "You're not allowed on school property." That made me feel a bit better surprisingly. Not long after that he left.

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Later that night I was pushing my way through the crowd to find Willow. My house was over filled with people and noise. There was no way it was healthy.

My friends had decided that instead of just coming to dinner they would start a party without even asking me or my mom. They had Oz's band, Dingoes ate my Baby, playing and there must have been nearly half of Sunnydale high dancing and shouting about. None of whom I knew. To be honest I couldn't help but think they organized the party so they wouldn't have to talk to me. The loud music meant that we wouldn't be able to hear each other and the crowd made it harder for me to find them anyway.

I finally spotted her near where Oz was playing. I made my way over to her.

"Hey," I greeted which she returned before going back to listening to the music which stung. "This is Large."

"You like?" Willow questioned, shouting over the music and the sound.

"Yeah. It's great," I replied trying not to hurt her feelings. "I-I was just sort of hoping it would be... us." She told me to repeat that since she couldn't hear anything. I tried again but a bit louder this time. "This is amazing, but I was sort of hoping we could just hang together, the gang." The red head indicated to the band meaning she couldn't hear me then turned back to her boyfriend. I realized I probably wouldn't get anything more out of her so walked off to find something to do.

'_Try again_,' Chris told me, soothingly. I didn't even realize he was listening in.

'_What I wouldn't give to have you here right now_' I told him. I really wanted him to hold me and just tell me everything was going to be all right. I sighed but turned back. I poked Willow in the arm and indicated for her to follow me. I led her to a slightly quieter part of the house. "Is everything okay?" I checked cautiously. "You... You seem to be avoiding me, I-in the one-on-one sense." She seemed genially surprised at that which made me think that maybe I was over reacting a bit.

"What?" she exclaimed. "This isn't avoiding. See? Here you are, here I am." Yeah because I made you, I thought. I didn't say it out loud but I decided to accept the answer. I asked her if we were cool and she told me that we were which is why they had the party but then she walked off again to watch the band, leaving me alone in a crowd of strangers. I needed to get out of this place and just give my head room to think. Somewhere quieter. Since I couldn't leave I tried to go to my room. 'Tried' being the operative word. Xander and Cordeila were kissing by the stairs. Xander saw me and we had a small talk all the while Cordy was kissing him. Obviously not the best convocation.

Since it was unlikely I would get to my room I started tidying the place up a bit. I needed something to do and there was no demon to hit. My mood wasn't improved when I heard some guy say that the party was for someone who had just come out of rehab but I ignored it and just moved to the kitchen to see how mom and Pat, who mom had invited, were. I was about to go in when I heard mom talking.

"Having Buffy home, I-I thought it was gonna make it all better, but in some ways, it's almost worse." My breath caught in my throat at that. Tears started to form in my eyes but I held them back. I walked away not willing to hear anymore.

'_Chris_,' I called out. I couldn't do this. I could feel his anger towards Joyce but I couldn't help but think what she said was deserved. She was right. I was a bad daughter. I was the one who broke her and Hank up. I was the one who caused all their arguments, all the fights, all the tears she cried. I couldn't be the girl they wanted when they adopted me. I hid those thoughts from Chris.

'_I'll meet you just outside of town_,' he said. I didn't even have to ask if I could come back. That was one of the things I loved about Chris: he understood me. I felt selfish knowing that I would probably ruin his life as well but I couldn't help it. I needed him.

I ran to my room, luckily without the snogging pair seeing me, and started packing.

"You're leaving again?" I shot a quick look behind me to see Willow there. I could hear the sound of betrayal in her voice but I just couldn't deal with it. It's not like they really wanted me there. "What, you just stopped by for your lint brush and now you're ready to go?"

"It's not like anyone will mind," I commented, not even stopping in my packing.

"Oh, no," Willow shouted, her tone heavy with sarcasm. "Have a good time. Oh, oh, and don't forget to not write." There was a strong emphasis on the 'not' and I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Why are you attacking me?" I sobbed spinning round to face her. It was too much. I couldn't deal with all this emotion. "I'm trying."

"Wow, and it looks so much like giving up!" Willow mocked viscously. It hurt but I tried to make her understand. She didn't realize that I was doing it for them and that I had to leave after Angel died.

"Well," she considered. "Maybe I don't need to understand. Maybe I... I just need you to talk to me."

"How could I talk to you when you were avoiding me?" I reminded her, shouting. Part of me knew that she was right. I should have talked to her but after I killed Angel but my head was so messed up and I just needed to understand it myself before I could even get around to telling her.

"This isn't easy, Buffy!" She shouted but I already knew that. "I know you're going through stuff, but... so am I."

"I know that you were worried about me, but..." I started but she interrupted me.

"No! I don't just mean that. I mean my life! You know? I, um... I'm having all sorts of... I'm dating, I'm having serious dating with a werewolf, a-and I'm studying witchcraft and killing vampires, and I didn't have anyone to talk to about all this scary life stuff. And you were my best friend." She was sobbing now and I didn't know what to do. The purely self involved part of me screamed out that I went through that alone and that she had Xander. I had to deal with fighting vampires and demons with no one to talk to. I was dating a vampire without the support of all of my friends. Besides point Willow would have been fighting vampires that summer anyway considering I should have been with my dad, so wouldn't I have been on the Hellmouth anyway.

Things got worse when mom came in and Willow just had to tell her I was running away again. They were both shouting and accusing so much that my head was swimming. I didn't know how to get them to understand. I just needed some time to get my head back together again. I could tell that Chris wanted to say something but he was staying quiet. He knew that I wouldn't be able to process it with what my mom and friend were saying. He hadn't orbed out of San Francisco yet.

I pushed past them to go downstairs. I just needed Chris. I made my way through the people but I could hear mom shouting out after me. I would have gone out the front door but Xander and Cordelia were locked in a passionate embrace in front of it. I went towards the kitchen intending to go out the back door but mom grabbed my arm and turned me around.

"You and I are going to have a talk," she demanded. Suddenly the room went silent.

"Mom, please..." I implored noticing everyone looking at us.

"You know what? I don't care!" Joyce shouted. "I don't care what your friends think of me or you for that matter, because you put me through the wringer, Buffy. I mean it. And I've had schnapps. Do you have any idea what it's been like?" I tried to tell her it wasn't the time to be talking about this but she didn't care. "You can't imagine months of not knowing. Not knowing whether you're lying dead in a ditch somewhere or, I don't know, living it up..."

"But you told me!" I interrupted, yelling just as loud as she was. "You're the one who said I should go. You said if I leave this house, don't come back. You found out who I really was, and you couldn't deal. Don't you remember?"

"Buffy, you didn't give me time," she reasoned but I saw red on what she added. "You just dumped this thing on me and you expected me to get it. Well, guess what? Mom's not perfect, okay? I handled it badly. But..."

"Dumped this on you!" I couldn't stand this. What she was saying was completely untrue. "I didn't just dump this on you. You've had over two years to deal with this or did you forget the actual first time I told. Do you remember what you and dad did, where you put me?" My mind went back to the time when my dear adoptive parents put me into a mental hospital when I tried to tell them about the supernatural.

"You know, maybe you don't want to hear it, Buffy," a voice called out from behind mom. I looked around her and saw that it was Xander. "But taking off like you did was incredibly selfish and stupid."

"Okay yes I screwed up by not telling anyone that I was going," I admitted. "But I had to go. I had to deal with it on my own."

"Yeah, and you see how well that one worked out." Xander commented. That was a low blow.

"You know Xander," I started. "You can be one of the most insensitive jerks I have ever meant." He was about to respond when a man... or something smashed through the window. More soon followed it. They seemed dead but when I staked one the thing still kept moving. Xander, Mom, Willow and I ended up in mom's room with the body of Pat. Zombies or whatever they were trying to get through the door. I was backhanded in the face the second they managed to get through. Suddenly the things stopped fighting and I looked to see Pat wearing mom's freaky mask on her face. Eventually I managed to pull myself and Pat through the window and into the garden.

"Would you like a hand?" A voice said from above me. I looked up to see Sophanisba holding her hand out. I took it and she helped lift me up from the ground. "Chris called for me and said you might need some help." She looked at Pat who was getting up as well. "Go for the eyes but do not look into them." That's a bit easier said than done.

"Thanks, think you can distract her?" I asked. I noticed a shovel and made my way to it.

"As you wish."

I moved towards the tool while Soph moved towards the masked woman. I noticed that she never looked at Pat in the eyes but just below the face. Smart, I thought. The Vessel kept Pat's attention on her and moved so that Pat was facing away from me. I grabbed the shovel and silently moved behind the woman.

"Hey Pat!" I shouted making her turn. I quickly brought the shovel up and embedded it in her eyes before she could stop me. There was a flask of white light then Pat disappeared.

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"Hey Giles," I greeted the next day when I saw him. I had decided that Snyder was not going to keep me from school. He had absolutely no right. I had the best grade point average in the school, excluding French, and he had barely any proof that I had caused damage to the school or people... Well there was one boy who I punched last year but he deserved it and he wasn't even human anymore.

Giles was standing outside the principal's office looking like he was about to knock.

"Good Morning Buffy. What are you doing here?" he asked in his British accent.

"I thought I'd try again with trying to get in, without mom," I replied cheerfully. After I had killed Pat all the zombies had disappeared and me and everyone made up.

"Good, good," Giles said taking off his glasses and wiping them.

"Do you mind if I go in first, I'm supposed to be meeting Willow soon?" I queried indicating to the door.

"O yes, of course. I'll speak to you soon." He told me before walking off.

"Bye Giles." I waved. I knocked on the door then went through. Snyder looked up from some files he was looking at.

"Do we have an appointment?" He checked.

"No, but I'd like to have a little word with you..."


	2. Faith, Hope & Trick

"Buffy, banned from campus, but not from our hearts. How are you and what's for lunch?" Xander greeted as he and the gang came up to me. If only he knew that I wasn't banned. Snyder, after our little chat the day before, agreed to take me back and all I had to do was see a councillor. I was going back tomorrow because he had to sort all the paper work and things for me to come back but I hadn't told my friends that yet. It would be fun to see the shock on their faces when I just turned up.

Xander, Willow, Cordelia, Oz and I were having lunch together just outside the school, as made by me... well mom, but I did bring it. It was pretty obvious that they were trying not to look like couples since the girls were on the right and the boys on the left but I chose to ignore it. They didn't know that I was seeing someone who I was completely in love with. Said person was also listening as he was researching a demon in the manor. Sort of like a support on case something happens. After the fiasco with my return he wasn't exactly fans of my friends but he didn't comment on it which I was grateful for.

"Oh, I just threw a few things together," I answered as they sat down even though I hadn't.

"When did you become Martha Stewart?" Cordelia complimented, I think. She sounded impressed.

"First of all Martha Stewart knows jack about hand-cut out prosciutto," I told her, handing out drinks to everyone, thinking about the programme I watched yesterday with mom.

"I don't believe she slays either," Xander added.

"Oh I hear she can, but she doesn't like to," Oz joked stoically. I was going to mention that I hadn't actually made it but Willow interrupted-

"Ooo, Scott Hope at eleven o'clock." She turned to me in excitement. "He likes you. He wanted to ask you out last year, but you weren't ready then. But I think you're ready now or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation, or-or to do that thing with your mouth that boys like..." My head snapped to her in surprise that she even noticed things like that but she took it to mean something else that I wasn't quite sure about. "Oh! I didn't mean the bad thing with your mouth, I meant that little half-smile thing that you... You're supposed to stop me when I do that." She glared at her boyfriend in annoyance. I was confused at what she was talking about and I could feel that Chris was amused.

"I like when you do that," Oz replied with a smile and a shake of his head. He really was cute at times. Scott walked by and I couldn't help but watch with trepidation. He greeted me which I replied back to be polite and luckily he continued walking. I could feel Chris starting to get jealous which was kind of amusing. '_I don't like him_," I soothed gently to him, trying not to laugh.

'_I know but I wish I was there_,' he told me and I couldn't help but agree.

"I think that went very well. Don't you think that went very well?" Willow babbled excitedly, looking at everyone agreement. She didn't even ask if I liked him so how does she know it went well? It felt like she was trying to set me up to me.

"He didn't try to slit our throats or anything," Cordelia supported with a nod. "That's progress." Thanks ever so, I thought sarcastically, making Chris chuckle. He was still a bit jealous but was a tad calmer now.

"Hey, did you do that little half-smile thing?" Willow interrogated.

"Look, I'm not trying to snare Scott Hope," I told them. _'You better not_,' I heard Chris shout in my mind and I had to struggle not to laugh. "I just want to get my life together." I could see they all wanted to add something but they left it at that. We continued with small talk till it was time for them to get back to class. I just went back home and talked to Chris as he went about his day.

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The next day I was at school. Giles had called a bit before I left to say that he wanted to see me. I assumed it was because he had found out that I was coming back, he wouldn't make me come when I wasn't allowed to before. Willow had been shocked when she saw me and I had to make an excuse that mom and I had talked to Snyder again and he let me back in. We walked into the library together with her acting all happy that I was back.

"Giles say what he wanted?" I questioned when I couldn't see him anywhere. "Do you think he's mad?"

"No, I don't think so. I think he just needed to see you," the red head replied. She looked around conspiratly and smiled. "Have you ever noticed, though, when he is mad, but he's too English to say anything, he makes that weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue?" Strangely I hadn't really ever noticed that but it did make me wonder when Willow had become so observant when it came to Giles. Said watcher suddenly rose up from behind the counter. Willow had her back to him so didn't notice.

"Hi Giles!" I greeted loudly with a smirk at Willow. She slowly turned around nervously and asked him if he had been there long but he seemed like he didn't notice. Instead he asked me if I remembered Acathla, like I could forget. I felt Chris pay more attention to what was going on with me. He was in the conservatory at the manor just revising his knowledge on divination. At the moment it was making sure he remembered what the different Tarot cards meant.

"Giles, contain yourself," I teased. "Yes, I'm back in school, but you know how it embarrasses me when you gush so." He stopped looking through his things on the counter. "Let's just skip all that and get straight to work."

"Oh, ahhhh... Well, I, um... Well-w..." he stuttered out in obvious embarrassment. "O-o-of course, it's wonderful to have you back, I-I-it goes without saying. But..." I couldn't help but smile, which he noticed. "You enjoy making me say it, don't you?" He set his glasses on his nose and continues looking around. I looked at some of the herbs and things on the counter, recognizing most of them. I joked about, asking him if he was making the demon a pizza. I sniffed some of the sage and grimaced in distaste. I held it over to Willow but she smiled. Strange girl, I thought.

"We need to make sure that he remains dormant," Giles replied, ignoring my comment. Duh. "And that the dimensional vortex is sealed tight. So I'm working on a binding spell." I could feel Chris' suspicion at that. I figured I better keep this conversation short so I could talk to him about it. Sometimes I spoke out loud when were talking together which would seem strange if Giles and Willow heard. I saw Willow perk up.

"Oh, a spell? Can I help?" she almost begged. I could tell that Chris was frowning now. He didn't really trust Willow with magic and he certainly wasn't impressed with her lack of respect for the elements. He was almost ready to come over to Sunnydale when Willow told me she tried to conjure fire herself or when she tried to summon the elements and ended up blowing the power for a couple of blocks. Chris felt that she was trying to cut corners in her learning. She was trying to go straight to the big things without learning the basics first so not learning what magic was really about.

"Possibly, with the research. It's very sensitive and..." Giles told her.

"Oh! Who's more sensitive than me?" She interrupted. She sounded hurt but was trying to cover it. I felt bad for her but I couldn't help but feel relieved that she wasn't going to be part of the spell.

"...and difficult spell," he continued making Willow frown. "It involves creating a-

a-a protective circle around... Well, I don't want to bore you with the details, but, uh, well, there's a litany th-that one has to recite in Aramaic, and it's very specific. So I need to get a few details about your experience of defeating Acathla and Angel." I could feel Chris getting even more suspicious so kept my answers short. When I got fed up of the emotions I could feel coming from Chris I made an excuse about needing to see my new councillor and left. I went to the bathroom, making sure no one was in there first. I pulled out the phone that the sisters had given me just before I left and put in the number for the manor. Chris picked up on the second ring.

"Ok what's wrong?" I asked in exasperation.

"He's lying," Chris replied. I didn't have to ask to know he was talking about Giles. I felt hurt and waited silently for him to continue. "There is no spell that binds Acathla and besides point I don't know of any spell that needs information that specific."

"He's trying to information out of me," I surmised, feeling hurt that he couldn't just ask me whatever it is he wanted to know.

"I think so."

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"So you're a Slayer, too. Isn't that interesting?" Joyce said, smiling as she served Faith more food. "Do you like it?" She put down the bowl.

When the gang and I had been at the Bronze we had found Kendra's replacement. I felt a stab of guilt and sadness thinking about Kendra but I pushed it away. The next morning we had gone to Giles to find out what was going on. I had a good shout at Chris for not warning me that there was another slayer and he had sheepishly told me had forgotten and that he didn't know much else about her. Apparently he didn't know everything about my life just mainly the things that happened before I ran away, that I went missing when I was about 20 and the very basics of the things in between.

At the library I was hurt and incredibly curious on why Faith, the new slayer, was allowed on campus when I hadn't been, according to Giles; until Snyder allowed me back in. Everyone seemed to be fawning on the girl and I had to admit that I was jealous. Willow had made me ask Faith if she wanted to have dinner with me and mom which was how I was in this situation.

"God. I love it!" Faith replied, stuffing her face.

"Uh, mom?" I asked so I could get the bowl of food.

"Uh, just a second, honey," She waved me off and put some broccoli on the other slayer's plate. "You know, Buffy never talks that way. Why do you love it?" Anger rushed through me and I blocked my emotions and everything from Chris. I've never talked about it because you didn't want to know. I put some fries on to my plate to distract me from my anger.

"Well, when I'm fighting," she gushed, "It's like the whole world goes away and I only know one thing: that I'm gonna win and they're gonna lose. I like that feelin'." That's great when you actually end up dead, I thought aloud.

"I don't let that kind of negative thinking in," she replied.

"Right," mom was smiling. I had never seen her smiling whenever I talked about slaying. "Right. That could get you hurt. Buffy can be awfully negative sometimes." She turned to me. "See, honey, you gotta fight that." You know about my negative thinking from experience, I thought in rage. Mine and mom's relationship was so strained that I held it in and smiled weakly at her and just replied I was working on it. Mom went in the kitchen to get Faith a drink and I followed.

"I like this girl, Buffy," mom said as she poured out a drink. I suppressed a sigh.

"She's very personable," I agreed, sitting on a stool. "She gets along with my friends, my Watcher, my mom." I leaned back on my chair to looking into the dining room. I could see Faith taking fries from my plate and stuffing them in her mouth. "Look, now she's getting along with my fries. It's creepy." I wanted to confide in mom so badly about how I felt and for her to comfort me and tell me I wouldn't be replaced.

"Does anybody else think Faith is creepy?" Mom asked, amused. Not what I wanted to hear. I was disappointed and hurt but I masked it and pouted, telling her that I was the one being replaced in my own way.

"It's probably good you were an only child," she commented.

"How do you know I was?" I asked. There was a tense silence. I sighed. "Sorry. I'm just getting my life back. I'm not looking to go halfsies on it." She nodded and told me that she'd be happy that I'll be sharing the slaying at least. Not what I really wanted to hear. She even suggested that Faith take over from me. She really didn't know me. Slaying was a part of me. I couldn't just give it up.

"Mom, the only way you get a new Slayer is when the old Slayer dies..." I started then realised what I said.

"Then that means you..." mom was obviously upset. "When did you die? You never told me you died!"

"No, i-it was just for a few minutes," I tried to defend. I really should have kept my mouth shut. She started to pace.

"Oh, I hate this. I hate your life," she said. I tried to talk to her but she carried on. "Look, I-I know you didn't choose this, I know it chose you." She took a deep breath. "I have tried to march in the 'Slayer Pride' parade, but..." Yeah only in front of Faith, I thought bitterly. "I don't want you to die." I went up and hugged her.

"I'm not gonna die," I soothed. "I know how to do my job." I released her. "Besides, like you said, I've got help now."

I thought mothers were supposed to be the ones to comfort their daughters, not the other way around.

Why is it I always have to be the strong one?

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Patrolling with Faith went great. Note the sarcasm. We got ambushed by a group of vamps and Faith was so busy pounding one of them that I nearly got killed. I would have regenerated but still. I wasn't sure what annoyed me more that or what she said before the ambush. Faith said that I had been slaying too long and then said something about Angel. I was so mad at my so called friends. How dare they tell something so personal to someone they had only known a few hours. If I wanted to tell Faith then it should be me who tells her and in my own time.

I told Giles what happened the next day at the ambush but he seemed unconcerned. He did get worried, however, when I mentioned a name one of the vamps had said. Kakistos. Apparently he was a really old vampire that had cloven feet. I said how it was funny that both he and Faith turned up around about the same time but Giles just thought it was a conincedice, which I didn't believe in.

Outside the library, I ran into Scott. Just my luck.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Hey," I replied, not really sure what to do.

"How are you?" He asked eagerly. Looks like Willow was right, he does like me. This was going to be hard.

"Uh, o-okay. You know, I-I gotta..." I stuttered, trying to come up an excuse.

"I know be somewhere else, right?" He said. I could tell he was upset but there was nothing I could do about that. "Think of this as my last-ditch effort. I realize that one more is gonna qualify as stalking. I've given it a lot of thought-some might say too much thought-to, to how I might be a part of your life. It begins with conversation. We all know this. Maybe over a cup of coffee, or maybe at the Buster Keaton festival playing on State Street all this weekend." I was stunned. This was so not good.

"Look Scott," I said. "I can't. You're a really nice guy but I'm already in love with someone." I decided to tell the truth. He deserved that much at least.

"Right. I get the message, I'm sorry bothering you," he left and I couldn't help but feel guilty for upsetting him. Giles was at my side instantly. Faith's watcher was dead.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

I ended up going to Faith's hotel room that night. Unfortunately so did Kakistos. Eventually Faith did kill him. She used a wooden pillar as a stake which I was impressed with. The next day Giles asked me more questions about what happened about Acthla so I just told him everything. I figured that was what he wanted to know. He wanted me release my emotions. I said that I hoped that it helped with his spell so he wouldn't know that I knew.

At home later that night I was going through my jewellery, trying to find a cross to put on when I saw the ring Angel gave me and I realized something. I needed to put that part of my life to rest. I loved Chris with everything in me but I just needed to have my last goodbye to my first love like he needed a last goodbye with Bianca. So I went to the Crawford manor. I laid down the ring in front of Acathla.

"Goodbye." My voice a wisp in the air.


	3. Revelations

Beauty and the Beast: Everything's the same.

Homecoming: The same except Buffy planned to go to homecoming by herself because she and Scott weren't together.

Bad Candy: same but Buffy doesn't go to Angel's, she goes and hangs out with Chris.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. .. ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

I was so not in a good mood. The last few days have been so hard with a new Watcher.

Mrs Gwendolyn Post had turned up when Giles was watching Faith and I patrol. She'd come to tell us that, as well as being Faith's new watcher who'd been sent from England to assess the situation on the Hellmouth, there was a demon called Lagos that was after an all powerful glove.

I had gone to drop off some blood for Angel yesterday and he said he would find it for me. Of course at the time the vampire was doing Tai Chi shirtless. I gave him a quick update on the situation then left to ask Chris if he could find anything. He'd went to see Sophanisba but she refused to give any information away, saying that some things had to happen. I was on my way to Angel's now which didn't really put me in the best of mood. I really didn't want to deal with him at the moment.

'_How's the search going_?' I asked Chris. I hadn't seen him in over a week and I was missing him badly.

'_Nothing yet but Soph keeps hinting that something is going to be happening later and that she'll see you soon_,' he replied, making me frown. Why would I go and see her? Hopefully nothing bad is going to happen.

I was so into my musing that I ran straight into Angel. He held on to me to stop me from falling. I looked up to apologise but was stopped. Instead of saying a thing Angel's lips were on mine. I stood completely still in confusion at what was going on then snapped. I shoved him hard off me so that he fell to the floor.

"Buffy..." he whispered at me in confusion. He was staring up at me with hopeful eyes that made me want to hit him.

"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled, ready to beat him to a bloody pulp. It wasn't all my anger but a good amount of it was. I could feel Chris orb to the outskirts of Sunnydale and start to make his way here. He was beyond furious.

"I don't know," he answered getting up slowly. He was still confused and I was starting to wonder why I had liked him in the first place.

"Don't you ever do that again," I ordered. He stayed quiet and I silently fumed. "I should have never have come here."

"It's good you did," Angel finally spoke up and I looked at him for an explanation. "I think I have what you're looking for." He walked over to a pedestal and got something that was wrapped in rags.

"Great... Just, wherever this was gift-wrapped, remind me not to shop there," I commented, sarcastically. My arms crossed in frustration. He slowly unravelled it, revealing an ancient looking gauntlet.

"Glove of Myhnegon," he told me like I hadn't already guessed. I went to touch the thing but he stopped me. Apparently once you put it on you can't take it off. Great, just great.

"So... no touching," I reminded myself, distractedly. I could feel that Chris was in the cemetery nearby. I really had to get out of here before Chris kills Angel. While I was tempted to do it myself I knew that wasn't a good idea. Angel wasn't evil.

Said vampire agreed to look after it for me and I quickly left. I intersected Chris before he got there.

"Chris, calm down," I said holding him back. "It was a mistake. He doesn't know about us."

"He kissed you!" Chris shouted pulling back to look down at me. His anger was starting to affect me and I was struggling not to let myself go and kill Angel.

"I know and it won't happen again, I promise," I told him. "Come on let's just go back to San Francisco and calm down." I could see that he was still going to go. "Please." I knew I sounded like I was begging but I was desperate. My own resolve was crumbling. Chris sighed and nodded his head. I quickly led him to the edge of town and we spent the night either killing demons in the underworld or just hanging out.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

The next day I walked through the library doors and was greeted by the solemn faces of the gang. All the teenagers were sitting at the table and Giles was pacing around it.

"What's with all the tragedy masks?" I questioned. Giles indicated to sit down.

"Better take a seat, Buffy," he said. Xander got out of his chair and moved it to the head of the table for me. I asked what was going on as I slowly sat down.

"We know Angel is alive," Giles replied, shocking me. That was not what I expected to her. "Xander saw you with him. It would appear that you've been hiding him and that you lied to us." I could hear the betrayal in his voice and it hurt but I understood why he felt like that. The only reason I didn't tell them was because I knew they would make me kill him again. While I didn't love him that way, I couldn't do that. Chris would have partially agreed. For obvious reasons he didn't like Angel but he never would have told me to kill him. When I told him that Angel was alive he admitted that he didn't trust him, no matter what state he was in. When I asked him what I should do Chris gave me an answer that made me love him even more. He told me that he trusted my judgment and that I should do what I could live with. Since being back in Sunnydale everyone was always suspicious of me and to know that Chris at least trusted me made me feel happier then I could say.

"Nobody's here to blame you, Buffy," Willow told me. "But this is serious. You need help." Now I was worried. That was exactly what my parents said before they put me in the psychiatric ward.

"It's not what you think," I defended, looking at her.

"Hope not," Xander snarled. "Because I think you're harbouring a vicious killer." I just stared at him in shock. How could he be so callous?

"This isn't about attacking Buffy," Willow mediated. "Remember, 'I' statements only.'I feel angry.' 'I feel worried.'" I suddenly felt very isolated and desperate to get out of here.

'_Chris_,' I called out. I knew that I sounded like I was begging but I really needed the support.

'_I'm here_,' he answered. I could tell he wanted to say more but there was nothing else he could say. We were in different towns and I couldn't go anywhere anyway since I had to be in school. All I needed was to hear his voice.

"Fine. Here's one: I feel worried... about me!" Cordelia exclaimed in her usual selfish manner. "Last time around, Angel barely laid a hand on Buffy. He was way more interested in killing her friends." Thanks for the reminder.

"But he's better now," I shouted.

"Better for how long, Buffy?" Xander accused. "I mean, did you even think about that?" I told them that I didn't need an intervention but Giles questioned that.

"I was going to tell you, I was," I explained. "I-it was just that I... I didn't know why he came back. I just wanted to wait."

"For what?" Xander interrogated. "For Angel to go psycho again the next time you give him a happy?" Chris sent waves of calm to me to help deal with the hurt that flooded me. I thought Xander was my friend.

"I'm not going to..." I started. "We're not together like that." I was taking deep breaths to keep from losing my control.

"But you were kissing him," Oz spoke up. Even his voice sounded accusing.

"I wasn't," I replied automatically. "He kissed me and shoved him away the second I got over my shock."

"Yeah. Right," Xander scoffed. The fact the he didn't believe me stung deeply.

"Buffy," Willow intercepted. "I feel that when it comes to Angel, you can't see straight. And that's why we're, we're all gonna help you face this." I didn't need to have a Time Lord brain to know she meant kill him. My own so called best friend didn't trust my judgment. Tears started to well up in my eyes but I held them at bay.

"But he's better now," I repeated. "I swear. Look, you guys, he's the one that found the Glove of Myhnegon. H-he's keeping it safe for us in the mansion."

"Right! Great plan," Xander exclaimed. "Leave tons of firepower with the Scary Guy, and leave us to clean up the mess."

"That's enough!" Giles shouted and I couldn't help but feel relived. One of them was on my side at least. "Everybody. Now, Buffy knows our concerns, and her actions, however ill-advised, can be understood. Our... priority right now is to retrieve the Glove of Myhnegon and try to destroy it. Now, all of you, back to classes." One by one they slowly left, leaving me alone with Giles. Not one of them looked at me. Giles walked into his office and I followed to thank him. He didn't turn around or say anything.

"I know this is a lot to absorb, but Angel did find the glove, and that was a good..." I continued.

"Be quiet," he commanded and my heart sank. He turned slowly to face me, anger evident in his eyes. "I won't remind you that the fate of the world often lies with the Slayer. What would be the point? Nor shall I remind you that you've jeopardized the lives of all that you hold dear by harbouring a known murderer. But sadly, I must remind you that Angel tortured me... for hours... for pleasure. You should have told me he was alive. You didn't. You have no respect for me, or the job I perform." I looked down in shame. He was right. I should have told him. I stood there trying to think of something to say but nothing came out. I turned and quietly left.

'_Buffy_,' Chris called out to me soothingly. I just blocked him out. I didn't deserve his sympathy.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

I caught up with Willow, who actually didn't hate me. I had to explain to her that I really didn't kiss Angel and that I really was over him but I don't think she believed me. I tried again when we went patrolling together but it was no use. I did, however, kill the Lagos demon which was after the glove. When we went to tell Giles about it, with some trepidation on my part, we found out that he had been hit over the head and was going to the hospital. Xander had told Faith his version of things to do with Angel so when they found the watcher Faith had thought it was Angel. I quickly ran after my sister slayer and got there just in time to stop her from killing my first love. I tried to explain everything to her but, like my friends and with the help of Mrs. Post, she didn't believe me. We basically ended up beating each other up. We were only stopped when Faith's so called watcher put on the glove herself and tried to kill us. At some point Willow and Xander turned up but I wasn't sure when. Mrs Post shot some form of lighting through the glove and I ended up stopping her by throwing a piece of glass, cutting off her hand. She was consumed in lightning and disappeared. The original Scoobies dealt with the glove after that. They put it into some sort of living flame or something.

The next day at the end of school I found my friends at the student lounge.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked cautiously. I didn't really feel that comfortable around them. I was still blocking Chris and I could tell he wasn't happy at it. I kept my head down, not looking any of them in the eye. I felt like an outsider with my own friends.

"Oddly enough, your boyfriend. Again," Oz replied. I wanted to scream in frustration.

"He's not my boyfriend," I told them with I sigh. "Really, truly." I looked up at last. "Are we cool?"

"Yeah!" Xander answered unconvincingly. "Just seeing the two of you kissing after everything that happened, I leaned toward the postal. But I trust you."

"I don't. Just for the record," Cordelia countered. I wasn't really upset really about that. Giles came up behind me but before he could say anything we heard what was being said on the news-

"Reports have just come in that a spaceship has crashed into Big Ben." My mouth ran dry and all I could think about was getting to Chris. I made an excuse and left, running to get to the edge of town.

"Chris! Chris!" I yelled. I saw blue orbs appearing before me and I felt relief flood me which quickly disappeared. It was Paige, not Chris. "Hey Paige." Even I could hear the disappointment in my voice.

"Nice to see you to," she greeted sarcastically. "What did you do to my nephew to make him even more neurotic than before?" I rolled my eyes at the neurotic comment.

"I've kind of been blocking him from my mind," I replied sheepishly, waiting for the rebuke and disappointment. I was surprised when I didn't get it instead she asked if I had seen the news. I could only nod, still in shock. She grabbed my hand and orbed me to the manor. It felt weird being back. The girls were sitting around the conservatory while Chris was leaning against the doorframe. His head was down and his arms were crossed, it was obvious he was trying to ignore me. I sighed but I knew I deserved it.

"Hey Phebs, Piper," I greeted. I wrapped my arms around myself nervously, not sure of what their reaction would be. I saw all three of the sisters narrow their eyes or start to look worried though I couldn't tell why.

"Hey Buffy," Piper smiled warmly and I felt myself relax a tad. I put down the block I had in my head.

'_I'm sorry_,' I apologized to Chris but he ignored me.

"Did you hear what happened in London?" She asked me. I nodded not able to speak. "Is it real?"

"I haven't seen the footage yet," I explained. Phoebe switched on the news and I watched at a ship, one that looked slightly familiar, hit the London landmark then crash into the river Thames. I'd seen a ship like that when I'd... commandeered, my ship.

"It looks real. From the design I'd say it was from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius," I informed them. "A planet with reds seas if what I heard was right." I could see the girls trying to pronounce the name, making me smirk slightly. Even Chris was having trouble.

"Do you think I should go and have a look?" I questioned, nervously. I really wasn't sure what to do. Being with my friends back in Sunnydale I realized how much I relied what I did on their opinions.

'_Chris, please tell me what you think_?' I begged to him but all I got was silence in return. It hurt but I knew I deserved it. I really do have no regard for those who care about me; I thought thinking back on what Giles said earlier.

"You're wrong," Chris spoke out. I was surprised by the vehemence of his voice. What was he talking about? "What you thought. You're wrong." I looked down, not able to meet his eye.

"That's our cue to leave," Phoebe commented then herded her sisters out of the room. I could feel Chris' eyes on me which just made it harder to look at him.

"Jenny, you did what you felt was right," Chris soothed. He came to step in front of me and used a finger to lift my head. There was a soft, almost sad, smile on his face. "They are the ones in the wrong. They're insensitive jerks who don't deserve you." I wanted to believe him but part of me just couldn't do it.

"I'm sorry," I whispered and I really was. He didn't say anything, just pulled me closer to him and cocooned me in his arms. I held him close and let all my worries go.

I don't know how long we were like that but when we did my mind went straight to what was going on in London.

"Do you think I should go?" I checked. I was trying to forget everything to do with my friends at the moment and just focus on the main problem.

"You can't," a voice called put from behind me. I turned but leaned back against Chris. He wrapped his arms back around me.

"Hello Sophanisba," I greeted. Her eyes were free of the stormy clouds, which it had been a lot, so I knew I was talking to the vessel of the Guarder. She was dressed all in the black, from jeans, boots and top. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and she was leaning against the doors to the conservatory. "Why not?"

"Because your father is there," she responded lightly.

"And that's a problem why?" I queried in confusion. My back straightened at the mention of my dad and Chris tightened his arms around me in support.

"It's your father but the regeneration before you were born," she answered with an understanding smile. There wasn't much I could say to that. If I ran into dad then I could possibly change the future or maybe create a paradox, which would not be good. I didn't know what to say to that so I said the first thing that came out of my mouth.

"Oh."


	4. Lover's Walk

A.N: I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. I'm really stressed for time at the moment what with college, my mum, driving lessons/test and my exams next month. Not helped by the fact I'm waiting for uni offers and getting really depressed that all my friends are getting ones while I'm not. I will try my hardest to get more chapters up but don't be surprised if I go for long periods of time without putting anything new on.

Spike didn't kill the shop lady, he just knocked her out.

…..

I was walking outside of the front of the school, clutching the all important sheet in my hand. All around me I could see my peers doing the same thing. SAT results were in. My score was great, brilliant in fact- probably due to my Time Lord brain- I could get into any college in the country, probably in other countries as well. Yet the frown on my face showed that I was not happy.

'_What's with the bad mood_?' Chris asked, obviously sensing my feelings. I sighed_._

'_What's the point of going to college?' _I told him_. 'It's not like I can leave the Hellmouth. I'm still a Slayer and it's kinda likely that I'm going to die and regenerate which will be a bit hard to explain._

"_Hopefully not anytime soon,' _Chris commented.

'_Yeah,'_ I agreed. I liked this body and didn't want it to change quite yet._ 'Any suggestions on what to do?'_

'_Don't go,' _he answered simply. '_Besides you want to go find your dad in a few years anyway so you'd end up leaving early anyway."_

"_Ah, problem is that mom really wants me to go_' I explained.

'_Any idea what you're going to do then_?' Chris questioned.

'_Not a clue_.'

"Buffy! Hey!" Willow greeted. I hadn't even noticed I was walking near them. They were all holding pieces of paper similar to mine. "Did you get your SAT scores?" I nodded weakly, not in the mood for talking about my results. I didn't want to explain how I got such good grades.

'_They might keel over from shock that you actually have a brain_,' Chris sent me cynically. It wasn't a dig at me so I didn't take it personally. I knew how he felt about my friends and how he thought they treated me. It was something we disagreed on so I chose to ignore the comment.

'_I'll talk to you later_,' I told him. We had both decided that it wasn't a good idea to talk telepathically while talking to other people since it got a bit confusing.

"By the look on your face," Xander commented. "I'm guessing you and I are gonna be manning the drive-through window side by side." I guess he got bad results then, I thought.

"I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled and, surprisingly, they left it at that.

...

"May I?" Giles questioned indicating to the SAT results in my hand. I was about to protest but he gave me a look that said 'hand the, to me or face my wrath.' Who knew Giles could be so scary? I reluctantly handed them over and watched as Giles went over her results with a look of complete shock on his face.

I had come to Giles to report on my patrol last night, which I did, but when he remembered that results were in the report went completely over his head. While he looked them over I played with some of the equipment that was on the table. Giles was going camping at a retreat and, for some strange reason, was packing while at school.

"Buffy, this is, this is remarkable," Giles complimented.

"So is this," I agreed. "Where is this retreat thingy, the Yukon?" I knew I was changing the subject but oh well. Giles said that it was close by at some woods. "Okay, but you're just going for a few days, right?" I looked at the huge amount of things that were scattered on the table and already in his bag. "I mean, you're not gonna settle there and grow crops or anything." My dear watcher seemed to think they were just necessities. "Giles, you pack like me." He just smiled and handed me back the sheet, saying that mom might like to put on the refrigerator. I put it away, sorely tempted to burn it or rip it to pieces, but I restrained like the good little Slayer I was. "Yeah. She saw these scores, and her head spun around and exploded." Mom was more than happy, she was ecstatic. Giles looked worried for a second.

"I-I've been on the Hellmouth too long. That was metaphorical, yes?" he checked, to which I nodded. I told him all about my mom's talk of me going to college somewhere else and Giles actually thought it was a good idea thanks to Faith being here. "Well, let's, um, let's discuss it when I get back. I-in the meantime, um, I'd like you to continue training while I'm, while I'm gone, and, um, please don't do anything rash."

"'Anything rash', meaning..." I verified. He hesitated before answering-

"Are you planning on seeing Angel?"

I told him that I was but that _nothing_ would happen, which was true. The only thing that I was going to do was make sure he had blood and that was it. I said that we were friends but that was pushing it a bit. We were talking...barely; we were mainly just on the borderlines of polite to each other. Well he tried to talk more but I would always leave. Usually I'd just end up meeting Chris at the edge of town and we'd hang out for a bit.

At home, later, mom and I were in the kitchen talking about colleges. Or mom was talking about colleges and I was listening, making appropriate noises every now and then.

"Carnegie Mellon has a wonderful design curriculum. Oh, and Brown University's history program is... You like history, right?" mom asked. I was disappointed that she didn't know that history was my second least favourite subject. I mean I like finding out about the past but teachers at school make it so boring that I just don't bother listening to them. I told her that I didn't want to talk about lovely higher education so of course we talked about it more. Mom was determined to get me off the Hellmouth, she even called Giles. In the end I just kept quiet.

...

That night I was training in the library. I was on the skipping rope when Oz and Cordelia rushed in. It was a surprise to see them since I thought that they were meant to be bowling with Willow and Xander, a double date or something. I dropped the rope to greet them.

"Thank God you are here," Cordy exclaimed. Not the welcome I expected from Queen C.

"Yeah! Not all of us have dates tonight," I reminded them.

"Something's up," Oz said simply.

They led me to the science room. It was dark but I could tell that there had been a fight of some kind. There was broken glass and one of the counters had what looked like the remains of a blotched up experiment, which I told them.

"Was Willow messing with her magic tricks again?" Cordelia suggested. "Maybe they disappeared. Maybe she turned Xander into something ishy!" Her whiney tone grated on my nerves. I said about there being a fight and some of the scenarios of what could have happened but Cordy got annoyed and told me to pick one idea. I knew I had to do something. If I was with the sisters or Chris I would have go them to scry for Willow but since they weren't I needed someone to tell me what to do. I knew I should be the one in charge but in Sunnydale I felt like I needed my Watcher's approval and commands.

"I need you guys to find Giles, okay?" I asked them. "I'm gonna look for them. Maybe they didn't get too far. Uh, he's at a retreat in the clearing in Breaker's Woods."

"Yeah, I know the spot, but it's like a forty-five minute drive," Oz replied. Even through his usual stoic expression I could hear the worry in his voice. He really did love Willow.

"So motor!" I advised. We separated to our respective missions. I went to the library and headed straight for the cage to get some weapons. I was stopped by the phone ringing. I rushed to it hoping it was my pseudo father figure calling to check up.

"Giles?" I said.

"Hi, Buffy. You still working out?" mom's voice called out through the contraptions. I so didn't have time for more of her 'Send Buffy away' talks. I tried to tell her that more politely but she interrupted me. "I was hoping that we could schedule a college talk later tonight. I admit I overreacted before. You don't have to go all the way across the country. I, um, picked up some brochures from some nearby schools, okay?"

"That's great, but now's really not a good time..." I tried again but was stopped by what I heard next-

"Hello, Joyce." A voice called out, a very familiar voice. I would recognize that Cockney accent anywhere. Spike. The last time I had seen him was in San Francisco. I knew he had made a promise not to kill anyone there or in Sunnydale but was I willing to risk my mom on a promise made by a ruthless vampire...

I rushed out the doors and ran home.

...

When I got there I went straight through the front door to the kitchen where I could hear commotion. I struggled not to laugh at the scene I arrived on. Angel was at the kitchen door, banging at the magical barrier, trying to get in. Mom was telling him to basically go away and Spike was behind her. He was mock going for her neck behind her back, antagonizing his grandsire. It seemed I didn't have to worry too much about Spike. He was more concerned with annoying his family.

"You touch her, and I'll cut your head off!" Angel stressed out, struggling against the barrier. You'd think he'd realize he couldn't get in without an invite and stop trying. Mom definitely wasn't going to let him in.

"Yeah? You and what army?" Spike mocked. I figured it was time to make my presence noticed so replied-

"That would be me." I walked more firmly into the room. "Hello Spike. Long time no see."

"Hello pet. Miss me?" He greeted, turning to face me. I smirked. Spike actually was kind of funny... when you get past the whole trying to kill you thing.

"Not really," I responded without hesitation. "What you doing here?"

"Trying to get Dru back," the souless vampire replied.

"She dumped you," I said, trying not to laugh. "Again!" I knew it wasn't funny for him but I had to bit my tongue to keep from giggling. You'd think he'd learn that she wasn't worth it, but no. Spike just kept on trying.

"Shut your mouth!" He shouted.

"Err Buffy?" Angel interrupted. I'd almost forgotten about him. He probably wanted an invitation to get inside but I wasn't willing to give it. While I didn't hate him I knew that he had slight stalkerish tendencies and I had no intention of helping him with that. Even when he wasn't Angelus he had sometimes just turned up in my room and I somehow doubted Chris would be too happy to find out my ex was coming into my room at night.

"In a minute," I told him pretending to be distracted. Spike noticed my lying and a smirk sprung up on his lips. It was strange how my sort of enemy could tell when I was lying better than my ex-boyfriend. "I hope you remember that deal we made." My tone was casual but there was a hint of steel there.

"Course luv. Just need to get some stuff for your witch to do a spell for me and I'll be off," he answered. My eyes must have bulged out when I registered his words.

"You took Willow." I said disbelievingly.

"Willow's a witch?" Mom spoke up, confusion evident in her voice. Oh yeah, she doesn't know about Wills.

"And Xander?" I questioned, not answering my mom.

"Him, too," Spike nodded. My eyes narrowed dangerously at his disregard of what he's done. I vaguely heard mom say something about Xander being a witch but I chose to ignore it. My friends could be in serious danger. For all I know Spike could have left them with minions and there were oh so reliable.

"Where are they?" Angel called out. Nice to know he was still here even if he did ask stupid questions... Note the sarcasm. Like Spike would really tell us till he got what he needed.

"Doesn't work like that, Peaches." Spike reminded him. Even though I was worried about Willow and Xander I couldn't help but nearly laugh at Spike's nickname for Angel. "And when did you become all soul-having again? I thought you outgrew that." He looked back at me. "Your friend's gonna work a little magic for me. She does my spell, I let them both go. You wanna tag along, that's fine."

...

Obviously I chose to tag along. Somehow Spike and I managed to convince Angel not to come with us- admittedly Spike's way was more fun with all the name calling and insults. I just told him to go look for my two friends in the cemetery, saying that Spike could have hidden them in a crypt or something.

The two of us were walking towards the magic shop in town. It was still weird talking normally to someone who tried to kill you but I was sort of used to. I guess him living at the manor was useful for something.

"So where's future boy?" the vampire questioned. "Weren't you two all lovey dovey last time I saw you?" His tone was sarcastic but I could tell he was curious. It was strange, you could always see so much emotion from just looking at Spike's eyes. He wore his heart on his sleeve, for the most part, there for everyone to see.

"Still in San Francisco," I told him. "The girls found out that he's Piper's son but Leo still doesn't know."

"You two broke up then?" he asked. There was a hint pity in his voice but I chose to ignore it. I do that a lot- choose to ignore things.

"No. We just figured that the Hellmouth needed a Slayer, so we're doing that long distance thing," I informed.

"How's that...Oh, God," he groaned out. He grabbed his head and leaned against a bench in pain. It was obvious he was just sobering up. I had smelt the alcohol on his breathe so could tell he probably had a drinking binge before he even got to my house. What I couldn't figure out was why he came to my house in the first place. All he wanted was the spell ingredients and he could have got them by himself. "Oh, God. I wish I was dead."

"Well, if you want a stake..." I teased with a smirk. He just shot me glare and continued walking, ignoring the pain. I followed, struggling not to laugh. We only had to stop when Spike had a brief flashback to when Dru and he killed a homeless man on some bench, much to my disgust.

When we got to the shop I was surprised to see it closed. Usually it stayed open till late to cater for its less sunny inclined clients. With a shrug I kicked the door open.

"I'll get the essence of violet and cloves and you get the set of runic tablets and the rat eyes," I ordered, looking over the list of things that was needed.

"I used to bring her rats," Spike commented as we looked for our respective ingredients. "With the morning paper." I rolled my eyes at that. Why was he going to so much trouble for someone who clearly doesn't care about him? The only reason I was helping get the ingredients for the love spell, a spell I was completely against for the record, was because he had Willow and Xander. While I was pretty sure he wouldn't kill them I still doubted that he'd tell me where they were till he could get the spell done.

"Great. More moping. That's gonna get her back," I told him.

"The spell's gonna get her back," He ground out. I stayed quiet, not wanting to argue. "So what's going on with you and the poofter?" I glanced back at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The last time I looked in on you two, you were fighting to the death," he said. "Now he's making all googly-eyes at you. Makes me want to heave." I picked the essence of violet and continued looking for the cloves.

"He's still in love with me and no one here knows about Chris."

"Want something to call your own do ya luv?" he said, though it wasn't really a question. I was surprised by how well he hit the mark. That really was the reason that I didn't tell anyone. I wanted something that I didn't have to give every last detail on to my friends. Something I didn't get interrogated on or continuously questioned on like I had to deal with from when I was with Angel. I didn't say anything. I just stayed quiet and continued looking.

...

After we had found everything we tried to leave but we were stopped outside buy a large group of vampires. They clearly knew Spike and apparently they wanted him dead, I was just caught in the cross fire. We were outnumbered so had to tactfully retreat back into the shop. We slammed the door shut and quickly moved a bookcase in front of the window. We broke some chairs for stakes just as some of the vampires broke in through the door. Spike and I killed them and I had to admit it was fun. Spike was fun. He was like me when it came to fighting. He quipped and had fun – though I wouldn't admit it out loud that I do.

As I killed my last one I looked up and saw a shelf filled with holy water. The vamps outside were bringing down the bookcase that.

"Hey Spike," I called out as he killed, who I assumed was, the leader of the group. "How good's your aim?" I held up one of the bottles of holy water. He smirked and joined my side just as the case came down. The vamps soon ran away when they realized they'd get burned if they went through the door.

"Now, that was fun," Spike exclaimed when it was obvious the fight was over. I rolled my eyes but I couldn't stop the smile from gracing my face. "God! It's been so long since I had a decent spot of violence. Really puts things in perspective." I gave him a questioning look. He was smiling and actually looked really excited. "I'm really glad I came here, you know? I've been all wrongheaded about this. Weeping, crawling, blaming everybody else. I want Dru back, I've just gotta be the man I was." His back straightened. "The man she loved. I'm gonna do what I shoulda done in the first place: I'll find her, wherever she is, tie her up, torture her until she likes me again." I blanched at that. Not quite the way I know on how to make a girl like you but I guess Spike is a vampire and Drusila is insane. "Oh your friends are in the factory." I stared at him in disbelief. Of all the stupid and most obvious places to put them. He just smirked back at me and went to walk out. He stopped at the door and smiled thoughtfully. "Love's a funny thing."

...

Later that night I was laying in bed talking to Chris.

'_So what happened today_,' he asked.

'_Well Cordy was almost killed and Willow and Xander..._'


	5. Amends

A.N: I am so sorry for not updating earlier. I'm in the middle of revising for my exams, my first two are next week. The next chapter is going to be short but I probably won't start writing till after the 19th. Thank You FF: Moon Goddesss, Hotgirlow, alpha of denali wolf pack, Always Keep the Faith, mattson718 and from TTH: mmooch, Rhatch for your reviews, alerts, or favorites. I really appreciate it.

...

It was a couple of days before Christmas and I was out shopping for gifts. I'd actually bought everyone's except Chris' and Willow's but I was on my way to the magic shop for the red head's, it was what to get Chris that was bugging me. What do you get a guy for Christmas who happened to be your boyfriend?

I was so caught up in what to get that I nearly bumped into some burly man who wasn't paying attention either. I looked up to apologise but stopped short when I saw who it actually was. Angel. But not as he usually was, there was an actual emotion on his face. When that happens you just know something is wrong. I couldn't work it out what it was I saw but I could tell it probably wasn't good.

"Hi," he greeted, regaining his usual emotionless composure.

"Angel," I returned curtly. In all honesty I was waiting for him to drop some news that a new big bad was in town, mostly due to his look, but, also, because that was usually the only time I saw him when we first started to see each other. Instead there was an awkward silence that was annoying me to death. Since I didn't feel like regenerating quite yet, I broke it. "So, are you shopping?" The second I said the words I realized how stupid they were. "You're probably not shopping." He said something about not being able to sleep but my mind was still on the vampires and Christmas idea. "Vampires probably not that big on Christmas, now that I think about it."

"Not as a rule," he told me. To be polite I asked him how he was. "I'm, I'm alright. You?"

"Yeah," was my reply. "I was just getting some Christmas gifts for the gang." Obviously I chose not to say anything about Chris. He didn't even notice that I left something out there. His attention was elsewhere, somewhere behind me and he looked beyond freaked out. I looked behind me but all I could see was people bustling about, getting ready for Christmas. I tried to question him on what was wrong but it looked almost like he was frozen with fear.

...

The next day at school I told Xander and Willow all about it. It would have been a lot easier if Xander hadn't kept adding snide remarks about my ex... note the word ex. Willow at least came up with the good suggestion of going to Giles. The problem was that Giles was still twitchy about the whole Angel, with good reason of course, and I didn't want to burden him with that if it turned out to be nothing.

"Maybe Angel just has the holiday blues," Willow put forward. "Everybody gets 'em, especially when they're alone." I don't know why but it almost sounded like she was hinting something. When I had told Chris about it the night before, he had just suggested that it might be best to keep an eye out in case he went psycho again. At least he kept the insults to a minimum compared with Xander.

"It's just so frustrating," I complained. "He's everywhere. I just want a nice, quiet Christmas vacation." Preferably, spending most of it with Chris.

We walked to the student lounge going over what we were planning to do over vacation. Of course I left out the bit about my boyfriend they didn't know about. I couldn't help but notice Cordelia when my two friends sat down. When Xander said about his annual Christmas camp out I thought it was kind of cool until Cordy said it was to get away from his drunken family. What I couldn't work out was why Willow didn't offer him to go around her place. I mean I'd invite him but then how would I go see Chris. What surprised me more was when Oz went and asked Willow if they could go and talk. I don't think I could have done that or forgiven Willow at all for that matter, if it had been me.

After school mom and I went to look for a Christmas tree. Unfortunately mom forced me into agreeing to invite Faith over for Christmas. I was reluctant because of the whole Chris thing, but also because Faith and I hadn't really talked at all lately. In retaliation I tried to invite Giles, hoping that he'd be able to distract mom for a while for me, but she was completely against it.

Mom and I split up at some point to look for tree. I was walking just randomly about when I came across an area of trees that were all brown and dead. The tree seller came up to me and said he didn't know why but a bunch of them had died on him. He offered to sell them to me but I declined. Why would I want a load of dead trees?

Eventually we did find a tree but mom soon forced me to go and see Faith. I did invite her but she told me that she had this big party that she was going to. In the end I told her to come over if she changed her plans.

That night I had the strangest dream. I was in some sort of formal dinner party. It didn't take a genius to work out it wasn't from my time- it's weird how I called it my time even though I was born a good couple of thousands of years after it. All the women had long dresses that went to the floor and flared out at their waists. Garlands were hung up, along the staircase and I could just about see a Christmas tree in the next room.

"Looks like we're sharing more than just thoughts then," a voice called out from behind. I spun around and launched myself at Chris.

"Do you know where we are?" I asked, with a smile.

"I'd say somewhere in Ireland," he said looking around. I could feel something, almost like a nudge to go somewhere. "If the accents are anything to go by. Any idea no why we're here?"

"I...don't... know," I told him distractedly. Something was calling to me. Something underneath the staircase. I detangled myself from Chris. "I'll be back in a sec." I walked to where the feeling was calling from and was shocked, as well as disgusted, by what I saw. Angelus was ripping into, who I assumed was, a maid. I couldn't see her face, all I saw was her body collapsing to the floor and the scared, bloodied face of Angel as he saw me.

I woke up. I sat there in bed processing everything that I'd just seen. There was no way that was an ordinary dream.

'_Chris_,' I called out through our link. '_You awake_?'

'_Yeah_,' he sounded distracted, like he was thinking hard and answering was just an afterthought. _'You didn't have a dream about a party in Ireland, did you?'_

'_Oh, God. It was you in it,_' I groaned out.

'_Yeah_,' he repeated. '_Where did you go off to?'_

'_I saw Angelus killing a maid_,' I told him. '_I think we were in his dream_.'

'_That makes sense_,' he agreed. _'I must have got in because of you but how did you get in it._'

'_Who knows_?' i said. I looked around the room like it would help me find the answers. My eyes were drawn to the clock. I groaned when I saw the time. '_It's late. You should probably get some sleep. I'll get Giles on it in the morning._'

'_You sure_,' he questioned. '_I could go ask Soph_.'

'_I'm sure. Night_.'

'_Night_.' Obviously I didn't need any more sleep, thank you Time Lord DNA, so I got dressed and did another patrol around town.

...

In the morning the first thing I did was go, see Giles. I explained to him what was going on but apparently he already had some knowledge of his own about it. It seems Angel visited him the day before and basically told him ghosts were haunting him. The two of us agreed to start researching but I was surprised when Xander walked in saying he would help as well. Even Willow agreed to help when she walked in and heard what was going on.

The four of us spent hours in the library, going through book after book. At some point I went up to the stacks and started reading up there. I don't know how it happened but I fell asleep. It wasn't like before; it felt like I was only getting part of the dream, flashes of it. I saw something that looked like a man dressed in black priestly robes. His head was bald and where his eyes should have been there were symbols carved in.

Extreme pain erupted in my neck and I could feel a weight on top of me. Then... I woke up.

I took a second to get my bearings again; I even checked my neck to make sure there wasn't anything there. Of course it came back with nothing; the pain was just part of the dream, but the familiarity of those symbols wasn't. I recognised those symbols on the scary priests face. They were Ingwaz and Algiz from the Anglo- Saxon runes. I knew what they meant letter wise in that alphabet but not a clue of their magical meaning. Time to call in the boyfriend I thought.

'_Chris_,' I called. '_What do Ingwaz and Algiz symbolize_?'

'_Why_?' he asked. He was rightly confused, he knew it wasn't something I really took an interest in. I told him of what happened and he soon went into lecture mode, which was kind of hot. "_Algiz usually means protection or a sign of spirituality, reaching for the divine. Ingwaz usually means harmony and love but sometimes symbolizes protection and the idea of a beacon as well. That any help or were you too busy thinking about my 'lecture mode'_?" I could tell he was smirking which was beyond annoying. It was probably a good thing he wasn't in the room or he would have seen my face turn bright red.

"I, er, don't know at the moment," I told him. "_I should probably go see what the gang have found. I'll see you soon." _

"_I'll ask around, see what I can find out,"_ he offered.

"_Thanks_."

It turned out that Giles had found something. He found my scary priest guys. They were known as the Bringers or the Harbingers and were the high priests of The First, the first evil that is. They could conjure spirit manifestations and set them on people. That sort of made sense. If they were priests that would go with the spirituality of Algiz and they act as a beacon for the spirits they conjure, which goes with Ingwaz.

Even though we had this information we still didn't know how to find them. So where do you go when you want information- other than your boyfriend. Go to Williy's. Unfortunately Xander came with me and tried to act like a tough guy... badly. We did find out from him that there was a big migration going on in the underground which could mean that they were there. That didn't exactly help in a town with fourteen million square miles of sewer, lots of natural cave formations and a gateway to Hell though.

Since there wasn't much else we could do we decided to go to our respective homes and be all Christmasy until we, or Giles, found something out. It was sort of fun doing the tree and getting changed into something I knew Chris would like. When the door rung, mom and I were both surprised. We really weren't expecting anyone. Turned out it was Faith. Her party was kind of a drag, or so she said, and she didn't have anything else to do so she came to us. I was glad to be honest. I didn't really like the idea of her spending Christmas alone, that and she got me a gift and gifts are always of the good.

I went to get the presents from my room and was not happy by what I found at my window. Angel. He couldn't get in because of the lack of invite, but the way he was looking at me made my skin crawl. It didn't help that his gaze kept flirting between me and my bed.

"Angel," I said cautiously. I was glad that I never gave him an invite that day when Spike came. Who knows what he would have done.

"Huh... Buffy," he sounded really disoriented. I was a little worried for him but not enough to go outside with him or to invite him in. I tried to get him to tell me what was wrong but his answer was really confusing. First he stuttered out that he had to see me then that I should stay away from him.

"You came to see me to tell me that I can't see you?" I questioned, completely bewildered. "I thought I was doing that anyway." When he started to pant I knew I should be worried. "Angel, something is doing this to you." He tried to get through the barrier but obviously failed. "You just have to control it, okay? I-I know that you're confused."

"I think you're the one who's confused. I think you need to..." I narrowed my eyes at that. Even if he was being controlled I did not like people imply I can't think straight. Before I could say anything in retaliation he shouted out to leave him alone then jumped to the ground.

I stood there in shock for all of a second before I quickly got changed and rushed out the house, making Faith promise to stay with mom and telling her I would explain later.

On my way to Giles' I gave Chris the lowdown on what was going on. He told me he was with Sophanisba but that she couldn't give any information due to future consequences, though she did suggest keeping Angel alive since he would do important things in LA soon.

At Giles' I had to repeat what happened and had to do more research, most of which was so cryptic I couldn't understand a word. Eventually Giles found something.

"Uh, more, more posturing, I'm afraid. Um," he apologized. "'For they are the Harbingers of death. Nothing shall grow above or below them. No seed shall flower, neither in man nor...' They're rebels and they'll never ever be any good. Nothing specific about their haunts." Something nagged at the back of my bead.

"Let me see that," I requested. He handed it to me and I started to read. "'...the Harbingers of death. Nothing shall grow above or below...'" nothing shall grow above. That was it.

Soon I ran out of the house, straight to the Christmas tree lot. I kicked open the gates and marched straight to where the dead trees were. I grabbed an axe that was laying about and swung at the ground till I made a hole big enough for me to get through. Hoping for the best, I jumped through it.

I landed in a cave of some sort that had candles burning around the place for light. The whole place felt dead and of magic. I could hear chanting nearby. I followed the sound till I came to what looked like a small stone altar with three of the priests around it

"Alright, ten more minutes of chanting and then you guys have to go to bed," I quipped. The three quickly got up to try and attack me but I killed two and third ended up running away. I used the axe to destroy to objects on the altar.

"Hmm. I'm impressed," a hauntingly familiar voice called out. I spun around and came face to face with Ms. Calendar, someone who died just under a year ago. It hurt to see her. Part of me felt responsible for her death though logically I knew it wasn't my fault. Pushing away my surprise and spoke up.

"You won't get Angel." I think i sounded defiant but it was hard to tell.

"Hmm. You think you can fight me?" She/it queried. "I'm not a demon, little girl. I am something that you can't even conceive. The First Evil. Beyond sin, beyond death. I am the thing the darkness fears. You'll never see me, but I am everywhere. Every being, every thought, every drop of hate." The First clearly likes the sound of its own voice, or Ms Calendar's. The speech was more annoying than anything.

"Alright, I get it. You're evil," I jibed. "Do we have to chat about it all day?"

"Angel will be dead by sunrise" The First said, clearly unimpressed with my interruption. "Your Christmas... will be his wake."

"No," I told it. I may not like him that much anymore but Angel didn't deserve to die. He actually was a good person and had so much potential to help people.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with," it dismissed.

"Lemme guess. Is it... evil?" I retorted, my voice dripping with sarcasm. The image of my old computer teacher seemed to shrink before my eyes and replaced itself with a huge horned and clawed beast with red glowing eyes. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving me to stare in shock at where it had been. Even with it gone it managed to get the last word.

"DEAD BY SUNRISE!" its voice roared out and I went running. I was not going to let it win.

I tried Angel's mansion but seeing he wasn't there I soon left.

Sunrise. The First kept saying sunrise. The stupid vampire was going to meet the sun and where else was better to see the sun than on the hill that overlooked the town.

"_Chris_," i called, running as fast as I could. "_I need you to find a way to save Angel from getting turned to dust_."

"_No, I'm good_," was his answer, not in the slightest bit bothered.

"_Chris_," I exclaimed. '_You heard what Soph said and if you don't help now Angel's going to see his first sunrise in nearly 200 years_." There was silence for a moment.

"_Alright_,' he finally agreed. '_I'll see what I can do, doesn't mean I like it thought."_

"_That's all I ask_."

I was franticly pushing through the bushes, climbing higher and higher up the hill till the trees and bushes stopped, and there he was. Standing there like he didn't have a care in the world was Angel, looking out over Sunnydale. Stupid vamp.

"Angel," I breathed out, slightly out of breath from all that running. He must of heard me since he gave a brief glance my way before turning back to look at rooftops. I slowly edged my way closer till I was next to him.

"I bet half the kids down there are already awake," he said, almost to himself. "Lying in their beds... sneaking downstairs... waiting for day."

"Angel. I need for you to get inside," I implored. "Th-there's only a few minutes left."

"I know," he informed me. "I can smell the sunrise long before it comes." Now he admits he's a vampire. He always tried so hard to act like he wasn't one, hid anything that showed otherwise and he chose that moment to admit that he had at least vampire senses. Great, just great.

"I don't have time to explain this," I tried again. Chris you better come up with something, I thought. "You just have to trust me. That thing that was haunting you..."

"It wasn't haunting me," he interrupted, finally turning to me. "It was showing me. I wanted to know why I was back. Now I do." I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at that. He really was an idiot.

"You don't know," I stressed out. "Some great evil takes credit for bringing you back and you buy it? You just give up?"

'_Soph's working on something now sine my magic won't work to good there_,' Chris informed me through our link.

'_Thanks_,' I said.

"I can't do it again, Buffy," he told me, harshly. "I can't become a killer."

"Then fight it," I all but demanded. He pathetically told me it was too hard, not even looking at me as he said it. "Then you're a coward."

"I'm weak," Angel choked out. "I've never been anything else. It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man."

"You're weak," I agreed. "Everybody is. Everybody fails. Maybe this evil did bring you back, but if it did, it's because it needs you. And that means that you can hurt it." I could tell he wasn't listening. "Angel, you have the power to do real good, to make amends." I raised my voice. "But if you die now, then all that you ever were was a monster."

"Just go," he commanded. Like I was really going to listen to him.

"I won't!" I shot out, defiantly.

"What, do you think this is simple?" he shouted. "You think there's an easy answer? You can never understand what I've done! Now go!"

"No," I responded. "I think what you're doing is you trying to find the easy answer." I took a breath to calm myself. "I know everything that you did, because you did it to me. I wish that I wished you dead but I don't." My voice was almost a whisper as talked. I was actually admitting all the guilt and pain he caused me to feel when he was Angelus. For every life I couldn't save, for corrupting someone I once loved for taunting me at every turn.

"Buffy, please," he begged. "Just this once... let me be strong."

"Strong is fighting!" I retorted. "It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do." Seeing that I actually might be getting somewhere I continued. "But if you're too much of a coward for that, then burn. If I can't convince you that you belong in this world, then I don't know what..." I stopped mid-sentence as flakes began to fall on my face. It was snowing. Snowing when it was supposed to be sweltering heat all day. It was beautiful. So pure and white and it was coming down so softly but strong. I watched as the rooftops steadily became white. If I hadn't have met Chris this would have been the first time I'd have seen snow. I was glad I'd shared that experience with Chris.

"Thank you Soph," I whispered, so quietly that Angel wouldn't hear.

...

I ended up walking Angel home then going back to my house once I saw he wasn't going to kill himself. Faith and mom were just as amazed at the snow as I was but at least I knew why it happened. As promised I told Faith what happened which she seemed grateful for. I'd just come down the stairs from getting changed, again, when Faith and I heard screams from outside.


	6. Christmas Invasion

A.N: thanks you so much for the reviews and everything, they really boost my mood. I just wanted to ask if your opinion on whether Dawn should be in this story. I have a few ideas for if she is or isn't but I would love your input.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... .. ...

I'd just come down the stairs from getting changed, again, when Faith and I heard screams from outside.

...

We looked at each other then we ran out before mom could say a word. I looked down the road on my right to see at least three people standing on the roofs of their houses, their loved ones screaming and begging for them to come down.

"Yo, B," Faith shouted. I looked on the other end of the road to see more people on roofs.

"Buffy," mom called out from inside the house. "I think you should see this." Faith and I followed her voice to see her looking on the TV. It wasn't just in Sunnydale. People all over the world were on the roof or on high buildings, right on the edge like they were about to jump, faces completely blank. One report even said the royal family were on a roof.

Giles phoned to see if I noticed what was going on. Of course I noticed who wouldn't. Being restraining myself from shouting at him I simply said I had. I asked if he knew what happened but obviously he didn't. He told me that, surprise surprise, he was consulting his books.

I quickly told Giles that I would go and see if I could get some information from Willy or somewhere. He in turn said that he was going to contact the Council.

'_This is alien isn't it_?' Chris asked once I put down the phone.

'_Yeah it is,_' I agreed. My thoughts were already like leaves in a storm. This was planet wise, nothing like I'd ever faced before. A thought suddenly occurred. '_Are the sisters alright? Wyatt_?'

'_They're fine'_ he informed me with relief. '_There's a few on our street though that aren't_.'

'_Same_,' I concurred. '_Mind if I come over_?'

'_Of course_,' he said. '_Don't bother going to the edge of town. Just go to your room.'_ He gave a little laugh. '_It_ _was going to be a surprise but this works as well_.' I was completely confused but I did as he asked.

"Faith," I called as I walked into the other room, motioning for her to come into the hallway, which she did. "Can you go to Willy's to see if you can some information?"

"Yeah, sure," she agreed nonchalantly but I could see the worry in her eyes about the situation. "What you gonna do?"

"I'm going to some other sources," I responded. I didn't really want to lie but I also didn't want my friends knowing about Chris, yet. "Look, here's a number if you need to contact me or something." I quickly gave her the number of the cell the sisters gave me. "I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell the gang about the number though." She gave me a funny look but agreed. I don't know why but I got the idea that the only reason she didn't comment was she was so desperate for a friend. It made me feel sad for and I made myself a promise to try and spend more time with her. I thanked her and went up to my room.

I took a deep breath to calm my mind but at the sound of movement I swiftly presumed a fighting position. It was coming from my wardrobe. I moved cautiously towards it just as the doors flung open. I straightened, ready to fight which turned into surprise at what I saw.

"That's not very nice," Chris quipped with a smirk. There he was, framed by the doors. Just beyond him I could see a shaft of light, like an opening to another place from inside the closet.

"How..." I started in complete confusion. He shouldn't be able to get onto the Hellmouth. His powers shouldn't work.

"It was going to be a Christmas surprise," he explained. "It's a door to magic school."

"A door," I repeated. "In my wardrobe."

"Yep," he replied, mischief alight in his eyes. "You coming?" he held his hand out to lead me to our Narnia...

I took it without hesitation.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ...

"So you don't recognize the ship or the aliens," Piper checked... again. I had been relieved when I saw with my own eyes that the sisters and Wyatt weren't part of those on the roofs but the amount o questions Piper was asking me was making wish she was. I mean seriously, just because I was an alien doesn't mean that I knew of every alien out there or that I could identify every type of ship.

Once I had gotten to the manor the girls couldn't stop their questions. They showed me the alien message that had been showed on TV and I could say with complete certainty that I have never seen them before. The interrogation was intensified when, what felt like, a mini earthquake rumbled the earth and we saw from the telly that a ship had descended over London. I had to explain to them all that it wasn't actually an earthquake but a sonic wave, probably from the ship entering the atmosphere. The ship itself looked like a giant rock more than anything, not a design I was completely familiar with.

"No, I don't," I repeated for her with an eye roll. From the corner of my eye I saw Chris hold in a smirk from next to me. "Wish I had a way to contact the Shadow proclamation though."

"Shadow proclamation?" Phoebe queried with a frown.

"Galactic government," I told them off handily. I kept forgetting that the people Earth didn't know much about the world beyond their planet. "They decide the galactic law. Had run in with them when I stole a shuttle from the Judoon." I said distractedly. "This completely goes against article 57."

"And the Judoon are..." Paige spoke up from her position on the sofa. Chris, Wyatt, the sisters and I were all just sitting around in the living room. This was a bit bigger than we were all used to, so had no idea what to do.

"Sort of like police," I informed. "Think rhino's standing on two legs wearing space suits." At their expressions I had to bit the side of my cheek to keep from laughing, they seemed so shocked, even Chris looked like he didn't know how to react, though he recovered first.

"So any idea what to do?" he questioned.

"I don't know," I replied, frustrated. I hated not knowing what to do. "There's always a challenge but we have no idea if they will even uphold the laws of combat let alone how many there are. We don't even know how they are controlling all those people."

"What would a challenge evolve?" Piper asked, lightly bouncing Wyatt on her knee.

"It'd be a one on one combat to the death with the leader or their champion," I said. It wasn't the best option since we knew absolutely nothing about who these aliens were but I couldn't think of anything else. "Here it would probably be a fight for the planet. They'd be forced to leave the planet by the law of combat."

"No way, not a chance," Chris exclaimed. I knew he wouldn't take the idea to well.

"Can you think o anything else?" I asked, standing up as well. I was vaguely aware that the girls were shooting each other uncomfortable looks.

"Doesn't matter," he shot back. I really didn't want to argue but I couldn't think of what else we could do. "You can't get there without our help and there is no chance we're taking her, are we?" He shot a glare at the sisters, telling them to agree, which they did. They were worried about me, I got that, I really did, but a third of the human population was ready to jump off the tallest buildings they could find. My mind couldn't help but wonder if any vampires were affected or any demon really.

"Troilus can take me," I refuted as the thought came of the kelpie's potions. Chris all but growled in frustration. "Come on Chris. If you came with me at least you could use our powers to help me or orb me away if I'm in too much danger."

"We'll come to then," Piper put forward.

"No!" the rest of us all shouted together.

"Piper you're pregnant, do you really think that's a good idea?" Phoebe tried to reason.

'_If you don't take me soon then your mom's is gonna end up coming_,' I told Chris. He turned to look me in the eye for a moment before turning back to watch Paige and Phoebe try and convince Piper not to go,

'_You're not going to give up are you_?' he sighed out.

'_Nope_,' I told him, popping the 'p'. He held out his hand and I took it. While Piper and her sisters were still distracted he orbed us out.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ...

We appeared in the ship. It looked sort of like a cavern which really fit in well with its external appearance. I gulped at what else I saw. There were thousands of theses aliens, thousands. What was more surprising was that there were four humans in front of one that I had to assume was the leader: two women and two guys. I looked around slightly and noticed a blue box behind us. It had 'Police Phone Box' written on the side and didn't look like anything special but I could tell otherwise. It was like it was calling to me, telling me that it was important, that I would find all my answers inside. That and it didn't really fit in with everything around us. Something nagged at the back of my mind. A blue box... A little blue box... travelling across the universe in a little... Dad. My head snapped up to Chris' as I realized what that meant. My father was here, right here, right now.

The sound of grunting and someone asking who someone was stopped Chris from saying anything. We turned as one to see what was going on. The leader, as well as the humans, was all staring directly at Chris and me.

I think it was safe to say they'd seen us.

"Err...hi," I said awkwardly with a little wave. My jaw nearly hit the ground as I recognized one of the women. Harriet Jones, prime minister of the UK. There was more grunting sounds coming from the leader and the older guy looked at the device in his hand.

"Where did you come from?" the man read. Chris and I looked at each other.

"Erm..." I looked around. The blue box was still calling to me so I said the first thing that came to my head. "From in there." I pointed at the box, hoping they'd believe me. The other woman, the one that wasn't the prime minister, was about to say something but my eyes pleaded with her to stay quiet. She seemed to get the idea and kept her mouth shut. The leader looked like he believed it to but it since he pointed at me and the girl, and addressed us.

"The yellow girls. They have the clever blue box. Therefore, they speak for your planet."

"But they can't," the prime minister shouted out.

'_Are you sure you can so this_,' Chris checked. I looked at him ignoring what was going on with the other people. I nodded my head. I turned back and stepped forward just as the girl started to talk. She looked like she wasn't much older than I appeared to be. She had blonde hair and was wearing a blue hoodie, with a white top underneath and jeans.

"I, um... I address the Sycorax according to," she said. She sounded so unsure of herself. I guess the aliens were called Sycorax then. The name reminded me of Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest'. "... Article fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation." I winced at that. She clearly had no idea of the actual laws in the Shadow Proclamation. She probably had just heard of them. "I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius, and um... the Gelth Confederacy..." had to admit I was impressed that she managed to say the planets name right but I had to step in. The Sycorax leader strode towards her.

"By order of article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation," I spoke up, coming to stand by the girl. "Under the authority of the Shadow Architect, enforced by the Judoon. This is a level 5 planet and you have not right to attack it. Leave now before the Shadow proclamation is informed."

"You know of Shadow Proclamation," the man had to translate for us again. "You not from this planet."

"I... crashed here a few years ago," I answered. The leader talked again with the man in the suit reading what he said.

"You no way to contact the Shadow Proclamation," he told us correctly. The leader circled around us and raised his arms in the air, obviously very dedicated to what he was saying. "We are the Sycorax. We astride the darkness." The Alien went up and hissed at the girl who whimpered but tried to regain her senses quickly. I was impressed by that. "Next to us you are but wailing children. If you are the best your planet can offer as champions..." Something strange happened. The leader was still talking but it was like all of a sudden I could understand him. I looked at Chris who was having the same problem if his face and thoughts were anything to go by.

"Then your world will be gutted..." the leader said with the man echoing him. "... and your people enslaved."

"Hold on, that's English," the man finally commented, the prime minister and the girl also saying variations of what the man said.

"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!" the Sycorax shouted, vehemently.

"That's English," the girl stated the obvious, pointing at the alien. She turned to the rest of us "Can you hear English?" We all agreed but the leader completely refused it. The girl ignored him and continued talking, almost to herself. "If I can hear English... then it's being translated. Which means its working. Which means..." She slowly turned around and stared at the blue box and the rest of us copied her movement.

The doors to the box were hurled open, and there, standing there with a big grin on his face, was my dad- the Doctor. A very dramatic entrance if I do say so myself though it might have been better if he wasn't wearing stripped pyjamas and a dressing gown.

"Dad," I breathed out. Chris wrapped an arm around me in support. No one else seemed to notice what I said; they were all focused on the other Time Lord. I kept looking at him. It had been over 5 years since I had last seen dad and I'm pretty sure that he thinks I'm dead but something was different about him. It was his eyes I think. They looked so young, so new then when I had last seen him.

"Did you miss me?" he asked, mainly looking at the girl, who was smiling in delight. The Sycorax leader roared in fury and tried to hit dad with his electric looking whip but he just wrapped it around his hand and pulled it away from the leader, throwing it away. "You could have someone's eye out with that!" The leader roared again and tried to attack him with his staff but the Doctor just snatched it off him and snapped it over his knee. He chucked the pieces on the floor. "You just can't get the staff." I couldn't keep the smile off my lips.

'_He really explains a lot about you_,' Chris commented in our mind. I just rolled my eyes but couldn't help but agree. He didn't really act like this when I last saw him. There was a sadness that hung around him then; then again it could have just been the hostility he was showing to me at first.

"Now, you, just wait. I'm busy," the Doctor told the leader, getting right up to his face. He then went over to the group of people who were on the ship before we got there. He was so warm with them, you could see that they knew each other but there was sort of a strain between the group and the Time Lord like they didn't know how to act around him. From the talk I found out that the younger man was called Mickey and the younger woman was Rose Tyler. He asked Rose what he looked like and Harriet Jones, at first, acted like she didn't recognize him. It all fell into place. He just regenerated. He wouldn't know anything about me because I hadn't happened yet. Chris felt my shoulders drop and quietly questioned what was wrong. I quickly explained and I watched the group. We both knew what that meant. He wasn't ready to know that I was his daughter.

"And who are you two then?" he questioned, coming to stand in front of me. My mind went blank for a moment.

"I'm Chris," my amazing boyfriend answered for me. "And this is Buffy Summers."

"Hello then," dad said to us with a big grin. "I'm the Doctor."

"If I might interrupt!" the Sycorax leader cut in. We all spun around to face him. I don't think I was the only one who had forgotten where we were.

"Yes! Sorry! Hello, big fella," dad greeted. The leader questioned who he was. "Well. That's the question." The alien demanded to know who he was which I guess dad didn't like. He imitated the Sycorax's roaring voice. "I DON'T KNOW!" he went back o talking normally. "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I- I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested." He started walking around randomly. "Am I funny? Am I sarcastic?" he looked at Rose and gave her a wink. "Sexy?" She just smiled shyly. He continued on. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob." He was right about that.

'_Definitely see the father daughter resemblance here_,' Chris joked.

"Shut up," I said in annoyance. I buried my face in his chest in embarrassment. My dad really can babble.

"And how am I gonna react when I see this?" the Doctor queried in excitement. I looked up to see him staring at a light red glowing button on a stand. "A great big threatening button." He ran up to the button with a laugh. "A Great Big Threatening Button Which Must Not Be Pressed Under Any Circumstances. Am I right? Let me guess, it's some sort of control matrix? Hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" he bent down but I couldn't see what he was doing. "And what've we got here? Blood?" he stood back and put his finger in his mouth. "Yeah, definitely. Blood. Human blood. A Positive. With just a dash of iron." He face was twisted in a grimace and he wiped his finger on his dressing gown. Wait… they were using A positive blood which means-

"Blood control?" I spoke up. "They're using blood control, but that won't control survival instinct."

"Correcto mundo," dad agreed. "Buffy was it?" I nodded. "Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Cos... I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a Great Big Threatening Button Which Should Never Ever Be Pressed... then I just wanna do this." He pushed the button down and all the humans, save Chris who could hear my thoughts on what blood control can't do, shouted out. The translator guy even said that my dad killed all those people who were getting ready to jump. "What do you think big fella? Are they dead?"

"We allow them to live," the leader excused, which made my blood boil.

"Allow!" I exclaimed with a scoff. "You couldn't have made them jump if you wanted to. All blood control is bad voodoo. Scares you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis - you can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken but you can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."

"Correct again," the Doctor congratulated with a grin. "And almost in my words exactly." Chris gave a snort of laughter but stopped the glare I shot him.

"Blood control was just one form of conquest," the alien retorted. "I can summon the armada and take this world by force." Right… I'm sure he could.

"Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that," the Doctor reasoned. "Of course you could. But why? Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun. There is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than- no, hold on..." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Sorry, that's 'The Lion King'. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"

"Or what?" the Sycorax put forward.

"Or," the Doctor replied. He grabbed a sword from one of the Sycoraxs near Rose and ran down to the area by the blue box. "I challenge you."

"He stole my idea," I commented to Chris, who just rolled his eyes.

"Yes, it was a good idea," he responded to me. "Are you happy now?"

"Very," I smirked out. Rose and others shot me a look but I chose to ignore it to watch the fight. The sound of all the aliens laughing kinda dampened my happy moment. The Doctor checked that the sanctified rules of combat still applied and leader stated that he was the champion of Earth, while unsheathing his own sword. Dad just tossed Rose his dressing gown.

"So," the Time Lord dictated. "You accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?" the leader hissed at that which made me really want to know what it meant. The two competitors kneeled on the floor with their swords point down in front of them.

"For the planet," the Sycorax conditioned and my dad just repeated it. They stood up and the fight began. They ran towards each other, swords raised and the sound of clashing metal filled the air. Within seconds my dad was thrown aside making the Sycorax laugh but he soon straightened himself up, thankfully. If he did then I would cease to exist which wasn't really on the top of my list of things to be. He soon ended up on the floor just as the leader was about to swing at him Rose called out to look out. I rolled my eyes at that. No, he wanted to sit there and get cut in half… Note the sarcasm there.  
"Oh, yeah, that helped," dad scoffed. "Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks." I could see Chris was about to comment on where I get my love of sarcasm from so I elbowed him to shut up. I could feel his eyes bore into my head at that but I remained captivated by the fight. The Doctor backed up to some stairs. "Bit of fresh air?" he hit a button on the wall and ran out of the door that appeared. The Sycorax and the rest of us quickly followed suit so that we were outside on a platform of the ship. The fight resumed. The invader managed to get a lucky shot and punched my dad on the nose. Rose began to run to him but I grabbed her arm.

"Stay," I ordered. "You'll invalidate the challenge and he'll win the planet."

Dad wiped his nose then the two fighters ran towards each other but he was knocked backwards to the floor. The leader took advantage of this and swung his side and brought it down on the Time Lord's arm. I gasped as my dad's sword and arm up to his elbow fell through the air, back down into London.

"You cut my hand off," dad accused staring up at the hostile alien, who yelled in triumph. Dad got to his feet. "And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. 'Cos quite by chance... I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle. Which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy... to do this." He held up his stump of an arm and before our eyes it grew back. His whole hand just grew back-by itself- in a matter of second.

"Witchcraft," the Sycorax charged.

"Time Lord," dad refuted. Looks like I was right about him regenerating recently. It was so recently that it had only happened in the last 15 hours or so. My surprise at what happened to his arm was short lived when I realized he needed a weapon. Chris must have had the same realization as me, or he was reading my thoughts, because he claimed a sword from the nearest Sycorax and threw it to my father.

"Doctor," he called out and dad caught it by the handle with his new hand a spun it around.

"Wanna know the best bit? This new hand..."dad commented then tried, badly, to put on a Texan accent. "It's a fightin' hand!" he ran at the other alien and for a few moments all that could be heard was the repetitive coming togethers of their swords. Out of nowhere the Doctor jabbed his enemy hard in the stomach with the handle of the sword then again twice more, causing the alien to fall to the floor. The victorious opponent held his blade to the throat of the loser. "I win." I looked on in amazement. I was actually sort of surprised he won. It didn't look to promising to begin with… but he did and I was glad that he had. It saved me challenging the invader if dad got too injured to continue.

"Then kill me," the defeated said, clearly having difficulties talking.

"I'll spare your life if you'll take this champion's command: leave this planet, and never return," my father granted. I think he went even further up on my role model list. "What do you say?" the other alien agreed. "Swear on the blood of your species." There was an anger there that shook me to the core and Chris, feeling my emotions, stood behind me and wrapped his arms around me, resting his head on mine. The leader did swear making the Doctor's tone lighten considerably. "There we are, then! Thanks for that! Cheers, big fella!" Dad turned and thrust his sword into the ground. We all cheered and Rose ran up to him to help him put the dressing gown back on. "Yeah! Not bad for a man in his jim-jams! Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man. Hold on, what have I got in here?" he pulled a Satsuma from his pocket making Rose and I giggle. "A Satsuma. Ah, that friend of your mothers - he does like his snacks doesn't he? But doesn't that just sum up Christmas?" They walked together to the doors, dad playing catch with the piece of fruit. Behind them the leader got up and picked up his sword. My whole body tensed and I was about to call out when Dad, without stopping or even turning around, threw the Satsuma at the switch on the wall with perfect accuracy, the ground beneath the leader disappeared and he fell to Earth with a scream. The smile on the my father's face was completely gone. In its place was an expression that could bring species down on their knees- and I was scared. "No second chances. I'm that sort of a man."

Dad led everyone back inside the ship and I was vaguely aware that he told the Sycorax to leave Earth. I was still on him killing the leader. Everything made sense to me finally. The reason he didn't want me kill was because he had, because it had haunted him and he didn't want that for me. He had told me there was always a choice but I think he was trying to forget that sometimes it was the lesser of two evils. He had to kill the leader. If he hadn't he would have come back and he might not be there in time when he did.

I came to my senses when we were teleported onto a street. We all watched as the ship started to fly up into the sky, making the two younger couple shout and jump in celebration. Dad went to talk to the prime minister.

"You ok?" Chris asked, his arms wrapped around me from behind.

"Peachy with a side of keen," I sighed out, leaning back into him. I closed my eyes to the world, just letting myself bask in the feeling of him.

"Rose!" someone called out. I opened my eyes to see a blonde woman running towards Rose and them. She must have been the girl's mum since that how she greeted her. I watched as the Doctor, Mickey, Rose and her mum reunited. It made me wonder what it was like to have a real biological mum. I couldn't help but feel a little envious of Rose. I was made of a machine, didn't have memories of growing up, just fully grown into a teenager ready to fight, with all the knowledge on how to fight and use weapons. Chris tightened his hold on me in support, obviously feeling my emotions. I put my hands on top of his and continued to watch.

A beam of green light shot out into the air from the ground somewhere nearby. Four more beams instantly joined it from different points till the beams joined in the air then shot up as one directly in the air to the ship still trying to escape. The ship was destroyed. I shot my gaze to the prime minister who looked grim.

"You murderer," I ground out at her, breaking free of Chris' arms. My voice was just below a shout and I could tell my eyes were alight with unrestrained anger. I strode towards her but stopped short at what he said.

"That was defense," she pathetically excused. "It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago." My eyes narrowed into slits and my hands were clenching and unclenching, I tried to make my way to her but Chris restrained me. I could have easily gotten free but I was too scared of hurting him. Harriet Jones on the other hand I would have had no problem hurting.

"But they were leaving," dad said. The darkness in his voice was well deserved.

"You said yourself, Doctor," she explained. "They'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today - Mr. Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case - we have to defend ourselves."

"Britain's Golden Age," Chris spat out still holding me back. She turned to us and told us it came with a price. A price way to high as far as I was concerned, I struggled a bit trying to get at her. Chris tightened his hold on me but for a different reason than from earlier.

"I gave them the wrong warning," my dad's voice was so dark as he said this and I couldn't blame him. "I should've told them to run - as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming: the human race." I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and Chris let me go so I could take it. We walked a bit off for some privacy and I took a deep breath to calm myself before answering. It was Faith. She told me that she tried to find any information but had got nothing. She even went to Giles to see what he knew but the Council had contacted him. They told him that it wasn't our concern. Seems they knew about aliens as well, not like they'd admit it I'm sure. Faith asked if I found anything but I reluctantly told her that nothing had turned up. I looked to see what dad was doing as I hung up. He was walking determinedly towards the translator guy, the prime minister looked stricken.

"We should get out of here," I told Chris. He nodded and we sneaked off into an alley to orb out.

One thing I knew was that I would see my dad again.


End file.
